Sexual Harassment Lawyers in Pasadena
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What California Law Actually Prohibits, and Why It Goes Further Than Federal Law
California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act, Government Code section 12940(j), gives Pasadena workers some of the strongest sexual harassment protections in the country. Unlike federal law, FEHA covers employers of any size, including those with just one employee, because the statute defines “employer” to include any person regularly employing one or more persons. A single incident can be enough to create a hostile work environment under Government Code section 12923 if it has a discriminatory effect. You have three years from the last act of harassment to file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department, a deadline extended by AB 9 in 2019. The individual who harassed you can also be held personally liable, separate from your employer.
Hostile Work Environment: When One Incident Is Enough
California courts and the legislature have explicitly rejected the idea that harassment must be “frequent” to be actionable. Government Code section 12923 states that a single incident of harassing conduct may be sufficient to create a hostile work environment if it has a discriminatory effect on the conditions of your employment. This standard is more protective than what many workers have heard described as the federal “severe or pervasive” test. If a supervisor made a serious unwanted physical advance once, or sent a single explicit message, that may be legally sufficient under FEHA, even if the conduct never repeated.
Quid Pro Quo Harassment: What It Looks Like at Work
Quid pro quo harassment occurs when a person in authority conditions an employment benefit on submission to unwanted conduct. Common patterns include a manager implying a promotion depends on tolerating sexual comments, a supervisor cutting hours after an employee declines an advance, or an employer making continued employment contingent on a relationship. Government Code section 12940(j) prohibits this conduct and holds the employer responsible when it permits or fails to prevent it. If you experienced this kind of pressure and are evaluating your options, the employment discrimination attorneys at Setareh Law Group’s Pasadena office can help you assess whether the facts support a claim.
Who Can Sexual Harassment Lawyers Hold Liable in a California Claim?
One of the most important things Pasadena workers do not realize is that multiple parties can be held liable at the same time. Your employer, the individual who harassed you, and in some cases an employer who ignored a customer’s conduct can all face legal consequences. The table below maps each liable party to the legal standard that applies.
Liable Party | Legal Standard | Statutory Basis
|
|---|---|---|
Employer (for employee conduct) | Knew or should have known of the harassment and failed to take immediate and appropriate corrective action | |
Individual harasser (supervisor or coworker) | Personally liable for harassment they perpetrate, regardless of whether the employer knew | |
Employer (for non-employee conduct) | Knew or should have known of harassment by a client, customer, or vendor and failed to take corrective action |
Can Your Employer Be Liable for a Customer’s or Client’s Harassment?
Yes. California Civil Rights Department guidance confirms that an employer can be held liable for harassment by non-employees, including clients, customers, and vendors, if the employer knew or should have known about the conduct and failed to take appropriate corrective action. A Pasadena retail worker who repeatedly reported a customer’s comments to management, and whose complaints were ignored, may have a viable claim against the employer even though the customer was not on the payroll.
Does It Matter That Your Employer Did Harassment Training?
California law under Government Code section 12950.1 requires employers with five or more employees to provide at least one hour of sexual harassment prevention training to non-supervisory employees and at least two hours to supervisory employees, within six months of hire or promotion and every two years after that. Completing this training is not a defense. Government Code section 12940 explicitly states that an employer’s compliance with training requirements does not shield it from liability for harassment that occurs anyway. An employer cannot point to a training certificate and escape accountability for a supervisor who then harassed an employee.
Deadlines Every Pasadena Worker Must Know Before Talking to Sexual Harassment Lawyers
Filing deadlines are the most consequential practical issue for anyone evaluating a harassment claim. Missing the window means losing your rights entirely, regardless of how strong your case is.
State vs. Federal Filing: Which Path Is Right for You?
Filing Path | Deadline to File | How the Clock Starts | What Happens After Filing
|
|---|---|---|---|
California Civil Rights Department (FEHA) | 3 years from the last act of harassment or retaliation (AB 9, 2019) | Intake form filing; verified complaint relates back to intake date | CRD investigates; may issue Right-to-Sue Notice; employee may then file in state civil court |
EEOC (Federal / Title VII) | 300 days from the discriminatory act (because California has its own anti-discrimination agency) | Date of the discriminatory conduct | After EEOC Right-to-Sue Notice, claimant has 90 days to file in federal court |
For most Pasadena workers, the California FEHA path is more protective: the deadline is longer, the employer-size threshold is lower, and the single-incident hostile-environment standard is more favorable. Whether to also pursue a federal claim depends on the specific facts of your situation. A consultation with a sexual harassment lawyer can help you decide which route, or both, makes sense before the shorter federal window closes.
AB 9’s 2019 changes also clarified a practical point worth knowing: you satisfy the three-year deadline by submitting an intake form to the CRD. The operative date of your verified complaint then relates back to when you filed that form, meaning you do not lose time while the agency processes your paperwork.
What Happens After You File: The Process from CRD Complaint to Civil Lawsuit
Many people searching for sexual harassment lawyers do not know there is a required administrative step before a civil lawsuit can be filed under FEHA. The process works like this:
- Step 1: File an intake form with the CRD. This preserves your deadline. The CRD will prepare and send you a verified complaint to review and sign.
- Step 2: CRD investigates. The agency reviews evidence and may attempt to resolve the matter through settlement or mediation.
- Step 3: CRD decision. If the CRD finds sufficient evidence and settlement efforts fail, it may file its own civil complaint in state or federal court. Alternatively, it issues a Right-to-Sue Notice that allows you to proceed privately.
- Step 4: Private civil lawsuit. Armed with the Right-to-Sue Notice, you file your own lawsuit in California civil court. The CRD, if it pursues its own action, can seek court orders requiring policy changes, punitive damages, attorney’s fees, and costs.
If your employer retaliated against you for reporting, such as by cutting your hours, demoting you, or terminating your employment, that retaliation is a separate unlawful act under FEHA and may also support a wrongful termination claim in addition to the harassment claim.
How to Build Your Case: What Evidence Matters and When to Preserve It
The strength of a FEHA harassment claim often turns on documentation. California law requires showing that harassment occurred, that it had a discriminatory effect on the conditions of your employment, and that the employer either knew or should have known and failed to act. The following checklist is the core of what an attorney will evaluate when you call.
Before You Call: 8 Questions a Pasadena Sexual Harassment Attorney Will Ask You
- 1. What specifically happened, and when did it last occur? The three-year CRD deadline runs from the last act of harassment or retaliation. Write down dates, locations, what was said or done, and any witnesses before details fade.
- 2. Who did it, and what was their role? A supervisor’s conduct is evaluated differently from a coworker’s because of the employer’s knowledge and control obligations under Government Code section 12940(j)(1). Identify the person’s title and your reporting relationship.
- 3. Did you report it, and to whom? Whether and when you reported internally affects the employer’s “knew or should have known” exposure. Preserve any email, HR portal submission, or written complaint you submitted.
- 4. What did the employer do after you reported? Government Code section 12940(j)(1) requires “immediate and appropriate corrective action.” If the employer investigated superficially, moved the harasser to a different shift without discipline, or ignored your complaint, that inaction is legally significant.
- 5. Do you have written or electronic evidence of the conduct? Text messages, emails, voicemails, chat logs, social media messages, and photographs are among the strongest forms of evidence. Take screenshots and back them up outside any work device or account before you leave the job.
- 6. Are there witnesses? Identify anyone who saw or heard the conduct, or to whom you reported it at the time it happened. Contemporaneous witnesses are valuable because their accounts predate any dispute over the facts.
- 7. Did you experience any negative employment action after reporting? Pay cuts, shift reductions, demotions, lateral transfers, or termination following a complaint may constitute retaliation under FEHA, which is a separate and independently actionable claim. For a broader look at how harassment and discrimination claims interact, see this overview from our Pasadena employment law team.
- 8. What did the harassment cost you? Document lost wages, lost shifts, medical expenses, therapy costs, and any job opportunities you did not pursue or were denied because of the conduct. These form the foundation of your damages calculation. For a realistic picture of what claims in California have resolved for, see our guide to average sexual harassment settlements in California and our review of past sexual harassment settlement amounts.
What This Means If You Are Deciding Whether to Act
If you experienced unwanted sexual conduct at work in or around Pasadena, California law may protect you even if you think the situation is borderline: the one-employee coverage threshold and the single-incident hostile-environment rule under Government Code section 12923 mean that conduct that would not qualify under federal law may still support a California claim.
The most urgent practical step is to confirm your deadline. The CRD’s three-year window is long, but waiting has real costs: witnesses’ memories fade, electronic records get deleted in routine data purges, and coworkers who saw the conduct may leave the company. If your employer retaliated against you after a complaint, that act restarts its own clock, but the underlying harassment claim runs from the last act of harassment, not the retaliation. Consulting a sexual harassment lawyer costs nothing under a contingency arrangement and gives you a clear picture of what you actually have before any deadline passes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my employer have to have a certain number of employees for me to file a FEHA claim?
No. Under Government Code section 12940(j)(4), FEHA’s harassment provisions cover employers with even one employee. This is one of the most significant differences between California law and federal Title VII.
Can I sue the person who harassed me directly, not just my employer?
Yes. Government Code section 12940(j)(3) imposes personal liability on the individual who commits the harassment, regardless of whether the employer knew about the conduct. You can pursue claims against both your employer and the individual harasser simultaneously.
What if I never formally reported the harassment to HR?
Failure to use an internal reporting procedure does not automatically bar your claim, but it affects whether the employer can show it had no opportunity to correct the conduct. An attorney can evaluate how this fact pattern affects your specific case.
Does the three-year deadline apply to retaliation claims too?
Yes. The CRD’s three-year filing window covers both harassment and retaliation under FEHA, running from the last act of the conduct at issue. If your employer fired you six months after you complained, the retaliation clock runs from the termination date.
What if I signed an arbitration agreement?
This is a fact-specific question that depends on when the agreement was signed, its scope, and whether California’s Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act applies to your claim. Discuss this with an attorney before assuming arbitration is required.
Contact Setareh Law Group: If you are a Pasadena worker who has experienced workplace sexual harassment, Setareh Law Group represents employees on a contingency-fee basis, meaning no fees unless you recover. Contact us to schedule a confidential consultation with our team.
Contact us today:
📞 Phone: 310-888-7771
✉️ Email: help@setarehlaw.com
🌐 Address: 420 N Camden Dr, Beverly Hills CA, 90210
Disclaimer: This article is general legal information about California employment law and is provided for educational purposes only. It is not legal advice, does not reflect the specific facts of any individual’s situation, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws change and their application depends on the specific facts of each case. For advice about your particular situation, consult a licensed California employment attorney.
Sources and Additional Resources
Authoritative sources cited
- Fair Employment and Housing Act, Government Code section 12940(j)
- Government Code section 12923
- CRD Fact Sheet
- Government Code section 12950.1
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